Man's inhumanity to nature

Abandoned mines, degraded landscapes, threatened species: These contemporary landscape artists depict the American nightmare, but their vision is not without hope.

By MARY ANN MARGER, Times Art Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 20, 2001

TAMPA -- Forget Albert Bierstadt. Forget Thomas Moran and those Hudson River School romantics whose mission was to make America's vast wilderness look sublime to those who lived back east.

The contemporary landscape artists now at the Tampa Museum of Art have very different messages to convey: political, social and, most important, environmental.

Oh, yes, and forget paint. These artists tell it more directly, through photographic media.

It ain't pretty, folks.

"Landscape/Land Use" is a traveling exhibit of six artists organized by the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, N.Y. Each artist reveals a different aspect of man's interaction with nature, changing it if not destroying it. Each offers a chance to pause, absorb and reflect. And, in this not-too-perfect world we share, to make a difference.

But regardless of the artists' agenda, the show has a problem, one of holding power. Too many of the works are too easy to pass by.

Chris Burnett's digitally generated prints are among the more riveting works in the show. His fabricated billboards advertising Sun City, Ariz., mock the planned community concept as fulfillment of the American dream. It Takes a Village twists the proverb about the raising of children and superimposes a scene of an elderly man and woman enjoying a hot tub while, behind the tub, another billboard advertises Sun City. Both are set along a barren desert highway that vanishes into nowhere.

But the presentation of another ideal town, Celebration, Fla., on iMac, is less effective. Viewers tend either to ignore the computer altogether or strike a couple of keys and move on. How good is it if the audience doesn't access it? A few posted clues on its use would help.

For Masumi Hayashi, the relocation camps where Americans of Japanese ancestry were interned during World War II is a subject that has psychological roots. She was born in such a camp. Through three large-scale, panoramic photo collages of the campsites today and audio of internees' oral histories, she reconstructs memories of a dark chapter in America's racial bias. Also included are letters of apology from President Bill Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

David T. Hanson's aerial photos of Montana construction sites -- a gold mine using contaminants such as cyanide, an abandoned Air Force base -- reveal how man's activity permanently alters nature. Each photograph is framed beneath glass on which is etched the name of an animal affected by the project that now is either endangered or extinct.

Sharon Stewart, a cultural documentary photographer, uses standard gelatin silver prints to investigate issues facing rural communities in the Southwest. In 20 candids from a series, "El Cerrito," she records in a random and informal manner the life of one such settlement and how life revolves around its only water source, an irrigation ditch.

Two artists working beyond the United States also exhibit. Silvia Malagrino, born in Argentina and teaching at the University of Illinois, uses photography, computer technology and videotapes. In these varied ways, she explores the culture and contrasts of Colombia.

Toshio Yamane of Tokyo photographs zoological parks and aquariums under construction, posing the ambiguity of artificial scenery versus the scenery being replaced. Lines divide a mural at the Hakkeijima Aqua Museum, making the mural and not the landscape the subject of his art. Shinagawa Aquarium Under Construction shows a real door in a photographed scene, recalling the fabricated enclosure of The Truman Show.

The exhibit is a reminder of how much the times shape relevant art. Those who lived in the 19th century could often only dream of seeing the vistas of unspoiled nature, but at least they knew it was there. Today our concern is to preserve what is left of it. These artists, bringing our attention to environmental problems and issues, could be out photographing beautiful scenes, as does Florida's Clyde Butcher, recording it before it is gone. That, too, sends a message, and one much easier to view.

This show, on the other hand, has few works that beckon the viewer to enjoy them as a visual experience. Though enjoyment is not a criterion for contemporary art, the works overall have a lackluster appearance despite good, if not especially innovative, use of photographic technology.

Though "Landscape/Land Use" may not in itself be enough reason to visit the Tampa Museum of Art now, the museum's other current offerings -- works on paper donated by the Sybiel B. Berkman Foundation, a selection of Seattle glass from the Basch collection, works by James Rosenquist from the Ross collection and a survey of recent Tampa Public Art projects -- combine with the landscapes to make the trip worthwhile.

Review

"Landscape/Land Use" continues through July 8 at the Tampa Museum of Art, 600 N Ashley Drive. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, except 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 students and children 6 to 18. Admission by donation only 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to noon Sunday. Call (813) 274-8130 or check http://www.tampamuseum.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.